Loss of Privacy

Can you hear that? That’s the sound of your privacy being flushed down the drain as firefighters are receiving training so that they can be lookouts for terrorism. The reason behind this? Firefighters and EMTs don’t need warrants to enter the millions of homes and apartment buildings they service each year.

So, now the firefighters of America have been recruited to look for suspicious activity, including building blueprints and bomb-making materials. Nice end run around my rights.

As part of the program, which started last December, Homeland Security gave secret clearances to nine New York fire chiefs, according to reports obtained by The Associated Press.

And we’re just hearing about it now? Nice.

“They’re really doing technical inspections, and if perchance they find something like, you know, a bunch of RPG (rocket-propelled grenade) rounds in somebody’s basement, I think it’s a no-brainer,” said Jack Tomarchio, a senior official in Homeland Security’s intelligence division. “The police ought to know about that; the fire service ought to know about that; and potentially maybe somebody in the intelligence community should know about that.”

Yeah, because if anyone came across a stash of RPGs in a basement they’d just ignore it, especially since they think the police and fire departments should know about it but only “maybe” someone in the intelligence community. What the hell did the firefighters do before this law when they came across no-brainers?

When going to private residences, for example, they are told to be alert for a person who is hostile, uncooperative or expressing hate or discontent with the United States…still and video cameras…maps, photos…training manuals…

Okay, you got me! That’s me. Send me to Guantanamo right now. Morons.

Since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, Americans have given up some of their privacy rights in an effort to prevent future strikes. The government monitors phone calls and e-mails; people who fly have their belongings searched before boarding and are limited in what they can carry; and some people have trouble traveling because their names are similar to those on terrorist watch lists.

We haven’t given up any of these privacy rights. They’ve been stolen from us by a government that cares more about the almighty dollar and whatever company has them in their back pocket. We didn’t ask for any of this. It’s been shoved down our throats with threats of Guantanamo if we fight back.

I’m sorry, but FUCK YOU! Leave me the hell alone. If I’m going to die in my burning home just to keep spying bastards away from me, then so be it.

The law from 1604 is still correct today.

“The poorest man may in his cottage bid defiance to all the force of the crown. It may be frail; its roof may shake; the wind may blow through it; the storm may enter; the rain may enter; but the King of England cannot enter; all his force dares not cross the threshold of the ruined tenement.”

- William Pitt the elder
British statesman 1st Earl of Chatham, Viscount Pitt of Burton-Pynsent , byname The Great Commoner, 1708-1778

“But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same object, evinces a design to reduce them under absolute despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such government, and to provide new guards for their future security.”

- The United States’ Declaration of Independence

The United Kingdom, in its infinite wisdom, has decided to tighten their borders by using a single agency and screening system for checks on individuals.

The Home Office has announced that a new UK Border Agency will unite immigration, customs and visa checks, backed by a £1.2bn passenger screening programme.

The electronic security system will screen all passengers before they travel to the UK against immigration, customs, and police watch lists. International air, rail, and sea ports will be covered, with all high risk routes into the UK covered by mid-2009.

I’m sure they’re not going to lose any part of this database either. [dripping sarcasm]

False positives be damned.  Let’s restrict free movement within the EU and refuse passage to people based on the false positives coming out of the United Kingdom.  Pre-entry.  Pre-check.  Pre-approve.  Pre-refuse.  Gee, I thought I was going on vacation, not getting a credit check to buy a house.

The free movement of people into the United Kingdom is dead.  This, again, isn’t preventing terrorism.  The 7/7 terrorists were from the UK, not the EU.

According to the Home Office, trials of the new system led to more than 1,000 criminals being caught and more than 15,000 “people of concern” being checked out by immigration, customs, or the police.

“The high number of arrests linked to Semaphore alerts demonstrates a visible measure of success. In addition, significant contributions have been made in support of investigations and the protection of the vulnerable.”

How many false positives were there?  How many convictions?  How about you give us some actual statistics instead of false impressions of the system working?

Staff with less than three hours’ training are being asked to perform key roles, such as passenger profiling, the union said. At Purfleet in the Thames Gateway, customs staff who have been ordered to carry out vehicle searches previously conducted by immigration officers, have reported checks are down by 50 per cent because of insufficient training.

Oh, brilliant!  Yet another scheme whereby no one is actually trained properly to do the job they have been hired to do.  Why does this crap never surprise me anymore?

The 2008 Defense Authorization Bill, also known as HR 1585, will, if passed give authorization to the US military to merge with police departments during times of catastrophic emergencies. It also authorizes the Department of Defense to create a plan for martial law.

With the prospect of an economic collapse and the general population against a war with Iran, it is not surprising that such a bill has been constructed.

Section 1615 describes how the Secretary of Defense will determine how much military support will be given to local law enforcement during said emergencies.

In addition, the Secretary of Defense is to develop a plan that will sustain this martial law apparatus for five years as shown below in section (b).

(b) Plan for Funding Capabilities-

(1) PLAN- The Secretary of Defense shall develop and implement a plan, in coordination with the Secretaries of the military departments and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, for providing the funds and resources necessary to develop and maintain the following:

(A) The military-unique capabilities determined under subsection (a).

(B) Any additional capabilities determined by the Secretary to be necessary to support the use of the active components and the reserve components of the armed forces for homeland defense missions, domestic emergency responses, and providing military support to civil authorities.

(2) TERM OF PLAN- The plan required under paragraph (1) shall cover at least five years.

Section 1622 of the bill establishes a Council of Governors that will advise the Secretary of Defense, the Secretary of Homeland Security and the White House on how they intend to integrate the National Guard into this martial law apparatus.

The information in this bill lines up with what was described in the Vision 2020 document which is a document released by USNORTHCOM which describes the goal of a future North American martial law apparatus. It also lines up with NSPD-51/HSPD-20 which gives the President authoritarian powers during a catastrophic emergency. One thing is for sure, these people would not be wasting their time putting this stuff down on paper unless they have plans to use it.

Some believe that such a bill is in direct response to Katrina, however, similar bills have been submitted and rejected over the years, leading one to believe that it is more than benign.

I’m really worried about the Posse Comitatus Act now.

Regardless of the fact that residents don’t want them, San Francisco’s Board of Supervisors has approved a measure that will require every resident in the city to obtain an ID card.

Supervisor Tom Ammiano, who authored the ID card legislation, said the program is a smart public safety measure because it would make residents living on the social margins of San Francisco more likely to seek the help of police and could give them more access to banking services.

The legislation would require companies holding city contracts to accept the municipal card as a legitimate form of identification – except in cases where other state and federal laws require other forms of proof of age, name and residence.

Under San Francisco’s sanctuary ordinance, it is city policy that no municipal government personnel or resources be used to assist federal immigration officials in the arrest and deportation of illegal immigrants.

Nice.  So, not only will the city not help the federal immigration officials actually enforce the law, now, they are going to force mandatory IDs on everyone.  Once an illegal immigrant has his new ID card from San Francisco, he can head on out to any other place in America where it will be accepted as a real ID.  This is a brilliant plan to further aid illegal immigrants, allowing them to side step the law into becoming a recognized citizen.

The best part is that this law was passed without any idea of how much it’s going to cost the city.  On top of that, the supervisors gave themselves access to double the campaign money they had before.  Forget about using the money for things like police, fire departments, schools, or infrastructure, there’s campaign money to be taken and illegal immigrants to pander to.

Why do cities keep rewarding people who knowingly violate the law of the United States of America?  Why aren’t we rounding them up and deporting them?

What happened to following the laws instead of picking and choosing which ones we’re going to follow?  No security checks through ICE means felons can feel free to wander into San Francisco and get their ID cards.  Next up, voter fraud.

What do we tell the hundreds of millions of people who came here legally, followed the rules, and worked hard to make a life here?  Should we just say, “Oh, sorry you’re a dumbass.  You should have just crawled under the border like everyone else because we in San Francisco don’t care how you got here.”

The good citizens of San Francisco will now have to foot the bill for a policy they didn’t even have a say in.  How’s that for American democracy?

To all the illegal immigrants out there, you’d better thank San Franciscans.  They’re paying your way.

If you have some free time and want to see how much of the world’s geography you really know, then head on over to the The Traveler IQ Challenge and test yourself.

I’ve already clocked in about 30 minutes of wasted time.  I need to go waste more because I can’t seem to get past level 10.